Airport Sushi

Wanting more than just a snack, but not wanting a huge plate of food, on a recent fleeting visit to Edinburgh Airport, I decided to take a seat at Yo! Sushi.

One of the disadvantages of this branch of Yo! Sushi is the limited menu compared to a typical branch on the high street or in the shopping mall. However once you’ve gone through security, not much you can do about that. In many ways though, Yo! Sushi is perfect airport food, no need to wait for the food, eat as much or as little as you want and paying the bill was quick and easy.

I went with three dishes, chicken teriyaki, a vegetable noodle dish, yakisoba, and later went with a mixed salmon dish. I had to order the noodles and chicken as hot dishes.

I’ve had chicken teriyaki before, and this version was similar, but certainly not the same dish. Previously when I’ve had this dish, the chicken was griddled and then covered with teriyaki sauce.

Chicken Teriyaki Grilled chicken in a sweet, sticky soy based sauce.

Here at the airport, the chicken was taken from a hot plate and covered in sauce. It was very nice though, and was full of flavour.

Similarly the noodle dish, pan fried Japanese noodles in a mildly spiced tangy sauce with vegetables, was from the hot plate, but again was tasty, full of flavour.

Vegetable Yakisoba Pan fried Japanese noodles in a mildly spiced tangy sauce with vegetables.

The vegetables were crisp and the noodles were certainly not sticky. I liked this dish, and added the remains of the teriyaki sauce towards the end of the dish.

Having finished those two dishes off, I still felt hungry, so took from the conveyor a mixed dish of salmon, comprising three slices of premium Scottish salmon sashimi, two salmon nigiri and two salmon maki.

Salmon Selection Three slices of premium Scottish salmon sashimi, two salmon nigiri and two salmon maki.

This was delicious, the salmon was fresh and full of flavour and I really enjoyed it.

Overall I really enjoyed my quick meal and I thought (for an airport) it was pretty good value for money.

Crayfish & Salmon Salad

The other week I was lucky enough to have dinner at the Mustard Seed Restaurant in Inverness.

For my starter I had what the menu described as the Crayfish tail, smoked salmon and vegetable egg noodle salad with an oriental dressing and roasted sesame seeds.

Now though I think the sesame seeds were missing, it was an interesting combination of oriental and Scottish, the noodles with smoked salmon. The salmon was great, the crayfish tails were okay though the noodle salad was somewhat bland, even with the oriental dressing.

Overall it was nice starter, refreshing and some nice ingredients, but I think it could have been better, though I don’t think that the missing sesame seeds would have been the solution.

Grilled Trio

In December 2009 I went to a conference in Auckland in New Zealand. I had passed the Harbourside Ocean Bar Grill numerous times on my first few days and really liked the look of the menu. However too often I was eating with friends, or at the conference. I decided on what was my last night in Auckland that I would go and eat there.

Having had a delicious starter of scallops I went for the Grilled Trio for my main course. This was a really interesting dish comprising a trio of grilled fish.

It was like having three separare main courses, which was the reason I chose  it as it was difficult to make one choice from the menu.

The three fish were from left to right.

Kingfish, with lemon potato, chorizo and a chermoula butter sauce.

Salmon with spice avocado and salmorejo sauce.

Hapuku served with hummus, pomegranate syrup and crisp onions.

This was a really excellent dish, full of flavour and just the kind of thing I like from a restaurant meal, creativity, flavour and textures.

Yo Sushi

I have had Yo Sushi before, I had some time to wait before my train so decided to sit down and eat rather than buy the takeway that I normally buy.

The concept of Yo Sushi may be familiar to anyone who has been to Japan it certainly is a weird concept for many in the UK.

Sit down and watch as little bowls of sushi pass you by on a conveyor belt. Help yourself to the ones that you want. After you have eaten they count the bowls you have eaten and charge you accordingly. Not all the bowls are the same price and range from £1.70 to £5.00. The price depends on how much is in the bowl and what ingredients are used.

As well as the cold dishes on the conveyor belt you can order soup and hot dishes from the waiting staff.

I looked at the menu and the first two items I chose were not available. So I ordered Chicken Yakitori, char-grilled chicken skewers with a soy-mirin glaze and Prawn Katsu, crispy fried prawns in Japanese bread crumbs, with a fruity sauce. I had wanted to order Prawn Tempura and Chicken Teriyaki .

While I was waiting for the hot food I started off with a crayfish salad which was very pleasant. The hot food then arrived (quicker than anticipated). The prawns were good and the chicken skewers were sticky.

I then picked a Salmon Nigri from the belt. The salmon lacked flavour but the rice was okay.

My final dish was Spicy Pepper Squid which was very nice and a good finish to my meal.

Still think it was cheeky that they charge £1 for water!

I will go again.

Roasted Salmon Fillets

Nice and simple dish.

Take some good quality salmon fillets, remove the skin. You don’t need to remove the skin, but I prefer to do so.

Place in a roasting tray. Add some finely chopped parsley and place a knob of unsalted butter on each fillet.

Roast in a hot oven for about ten minutes.

Serve with steamed new potatoes and a side salad.

Yo Sushi once more

Having tried Yo Sushi once and enjoyed it, coming home from London yesterday I decided to have Yo Sushi again. Rather than eat at the restaurant taking bowls from the conveyor belt I bought some take away to eat on the train.

I had Salmon and Tuna Box and a Spicy Squid salad.

The Salmon and Tuna Box contains 2 Salmon Nigiri, 2 Tuna Nigiri,  Sashimi: Salmon, Tuna, Coriander Seared Tuna, Tuna Maki, 2 Salmon Maki, YO! Roll.

Salmon and Tuna Box

The Nigiri were really nice as was the Sashimi. I enjoyed the Maki, however though it was okay didn’t think too much of the YO! Roll.

I did enjoy the Spicy Squid which was blanched squid tossed with crunchy peppers, red onion, dressed with spicy kimchee sauce and sesame seed.

Spicy Squid

Overall for £10.20 probably more than I would normally pay for a takeway meal, however at least it wasn’t panini or a burger. I really did enjoy my meal and will certainly be going again.